Scandal of Scandals

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Stunning is the world that seems to fit the story coming out of Colorado Springs the last 24-hours.
 
A scandal of significant proportions at the Air Force Academy, held in such high esteem, for who they are, who they admit, and what those cadets put themselves thru getting ready to begin a career in harm’s way.
 
An investigation that has led to the expulsion of some 32-cadets, including 5-football players, 2 in basketball and a female athlete.
 
Probes of huge violations of the Academy Honor Code, in academics, and in life style. 
 
Drunken parties, marijuana abuse, date rape drugs, lies to investigators and academic irregularities. 
 
A difficult-to-accept story considering the honorable place we hold our service academies in.
 
Insinuations that winning football games led to the admittance of sub-standard recruits, who were stashed for a year at Air Force Prep, to get them eligible, but obviously not to keep them out of trouble.
 
Beating drug tests, alcohol abuse and sexual assaults on 3-female cadets are all part of the story. 
 
The demands on the cadets, academically, socially, and intellectually in Colorado Springs are significant.  No different than at Annapolis and West Point.
 
And although the horrors of the depths of this story, dating back to 2011, are significant, Navy and Army had dealt with similar issues too recently, academic fraud, and date rape issues.
 
Don’t know if we are wrong for holding Air Force-Navy-Army’s option quarterbacks to a higher standard.  They are young men, maybe prone to get involved in the same issues that have plagued places from Ohio State to Montana, and lots of schools in between.
 
Maybe we should not be stunned nor surprised in all this.  Young men, who make mistakes. 
 
But at first glance, when you read the report, it does shock you the dateline is Air Force Academy.

Aztecs – August 4th, 2014

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1-of the best no one really knows about.
 
San Diego State Aztecs preseason football workouts begin tonight, and while the Chargers draw all the attention in this major league city, little attention is given to the man doing an impressive job.
 
The Aztecs trips to post season bowl games have become a tradition in football, much like March Madness invites have become part of the DNA of the SDSU basketball program.
 
Rocky Long may be old school as a coach, but he gets wins, results and respect.
 
There are hardly any BCS invites handed out in this Mountain West Conference neighborhood over the years.  Aside from what Boise State did and Utah did, the Mountain West is just another mid-major conference, on TV, playing football.
 
They recruit a different type of football athlete at SDSU, not many 5-star guys, but rather players you get in, keep academically eligible, and the type you ‘coach-em-up.”
 
And that’s who Rocky Long is.  The real meat and potatoes type of coach.  Witness what he did last year with JUCO-walk on QB-Quinn Kaehler, who had to talk his way onto the campus, just to get a tryout.
 
He’s creating things each year.  1-year finding linebackers to run his wild 3-5-3 defense; another season finding starting cornerbacks; then replacing OTs by moving players around; this year it’s looking for safeties.  He is a can-do guy.
 
When Ryan Katz went down, Kaehler came in to just manage the games.  A rocky couple of turnover marred starts turned into stronger performances.  By the middle of the season, the Aztecs were winning games, and Kaehler was making plays, lots of plays.  It’s not a problem, it’s an opportunity with this coach, who came here after buidling something from nothing at New Mexcio.
 
It must be a weird feeling to be in the shadow of Jim Mora and Steve Sarkisian, the in-the-spotlight coaches at UCLA-USC.  It must be a somewhat disappointing feeling when no TV reporters, 1-beat writer, 1-radio guy shows up for media day.  It must be an empty feeling to have to face more empty seats at your home games, than fans-friends-alums screaming and yelling.  It must be disappointing to be in the shadow of all things Philip Rivers and the Chargers.
 
San Diego State may be much like Fresno State and Boise State, a really solid program, but they are unlike them too-because in this market, few pay attention and it seems fewer care.
 
It has been a long uphill run for SDSU.  The Marshall Faulk electric era was a long time ago.  Bowl games are here, but no national recognition to speak of.  The Aztecs put players in the NFL on a year by year basis, and they are starting now to get transfers-bounce backs from the USCs and Oregons of the world.
 
But you get the sense, none of the outside stuff means much to Rocky Long.  Just wants to go to work everyday, be a good coach, a strong leader, and develop young men who reach their peak on the field and in the classroom.
 
Good coach, good man, doing a good job, in relative obscurity.  That seems to be okay for this old ball coach, for all he wants to do is ‘coach-em-up’.  And that Rocky Long does very well…

Pro Football Hall of Fame

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Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend is upon us…enshrinement on the front steps in Canton, Ohio.

A legendary class for sure, from many different eras.

Claude Humphrey-elite pass rusher of the Falcons, part of the original “Gritz Blitz” defense. He did not invent the head slap, but he sure used it.

Andre Reed-the Bills small college-big play receiver. Fast-tough-no fear-fiery. He was the pass catcher with Jim Kelly during that spectacular run of 4-straight Super Bowl games for Buffalo.

Derrick Brooks of Tampa Bay. He wasn’t Jack Lambert, he wasn’t Junior Seau, he wasn’t Mike Singletary. He was fast, quick, instinctive, smart and everywhere on the field.

Ray Guy-the first of his kind to get there, a punter, a punter, finally enshrined after all those years of waiting, all those yards, and all those coffin corner kicks for Al Davis’ Raiders.

Aeneas Williams, Arizona Cardinals, smooth, slick, effortless covering good wide receivers. A star player for the most part on bad Cardinal teams.

Walter Jones, Seattle’s mountain of a man, quiet as a mouse left tackle. You never knew he was on the field, because he never drew penalties, and his pass protection package snuffed out blitzes on that side. His play spoke volumes even if he was not much of a speaker.

The stars come out tomorrow afternoon in Canton. It will be a great day at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Trading Deadline

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Damned if you do-Damned if you don’t.

That is what baseball and baseball contracts have become in the 2000s. Players do well, they get huge salaries. Those salaries pull up the pay scale of the good player, and drags up what you have to pay mediocre talent too.

And now with the trading deadline sitting right in front of us, we see the end result. Teams out of the race, want to start to rebuild, and cannot move veterans to pennant contenders.

Why, the big city markets payrolls are bloated already, and no-one wants to take on massive salaries and give up tons of young talent.

Philadelphia needs to rebuild, but are choking on the 100M still owed to Cole Hamels, or the 60M due Cliff Lee and his ailing elbow. And they cannot give away Ryan Howard and his 25M a year deal that goes on and on. The Phillies handed out 5-massive contracts to those guys plus Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins when they were a World Series team. Now the team is older, somewhat injured, and definitely tied to the cross with big money deals.

Small market Tampa Bay ace David Price costs his club 14M this year; next year he will get 20M, just based on the arbitration numbers he would be due. Way too rich for the Rays budget, and pretty steep for other teams to take on. He might not get dealt today because they’re in the pennant race, but he will be dealt before next year.

Even mid-level players cost too much to deal. No one really wanted Chase Headley’s .220 batting average, his 10.5M contract, and the 14M he might get next year.

For every Angel franchise with a 120M payroll, there is a Cleveland forced to deal its ace Justin Masterson yesterday with free agency looming.

For every good season an established player gets, the price tag on somebody down the line goes higher.

It’s the system for sure, a system that now guarantees players 4.1M per year average salary. Think of that. Mediocre Mendoza line guys earn 4.1M, because the stars get 25M.

Damned with the amount of money you have to pay, damned if you can’t pay it too.

So when the rest of the trades happen today, remember it is as much about the contract, as it is the player in many of these deals.

Clippers Owner

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He got what he deserved. Yes he got a lot of money. But he lives out his sorry life filled with scorn.

Donald Sterling, welcome to the despair you have created for yourself. The Clippers owner has lost his NBA franchise.

An LA judge ruled against all 3-of his lawsuits, in a bitter fight to retain ownership, months after his racial slurs put an end to his forever stained life.

Shelly Sterling, no crown jewel of a person, was right in removing her husband from the family trust. The doctors, who declared the 80-year old real estate tycoon, mentally incompetent, had their medical exams validated. And the 2B sale to Steve Ballmer is allowed to go thru.

Sterling gets half of the 2B sale; but he loses half of what he gets in taxes; and he pays all the legal fees due after this ugly lawsuit. And who knows the cost of all the other litigation he has committed going forward.

Banned for life from the NBA, a 2.5M-fine from the commissioner’s office, and the loss of the only credible thing he valued, a pro franchise.

Such a fitting penalty for a man who lived a life of lawsuits, maltreatment of minorities, a world full of bigotry and questions of ethics.

In the end, Sterling lost the lawsuit when he took the stand. The prosecution allowed him to meander from topic to topic, make questionable statements, contradict earlier testimony and depositions.

In closing one minute he talked about his wife,, their partnership,her business acumen, and minutes later he was calling her a ‘pig’.

The man who owned an NBA franchise known forever for faulty leadership and for losing, now wakes up with no team, less money, a forever tainted reputation.

This has to be the worst defeat ever in Donald Sterling’s life.